masc. proper name, from French Timothée, from Latin Timotheus, from Greek Timotheos, literally "honoring God," from time "honor, respect" (see timocracy) + theos "god" (see theo-).
1747, short for timothy grass (1736), American English name for "cat-tail grass" (Phleum pratense), a native British grass introduced to the American colonies and cultivated there from c. 1720. Said since 1765 to be so called for a certain Timothy Hanson, who is said to have promoted it in the Carolinas as an agricultural plant.
